Most of the discussion I heard from this weekend was around these three high school recruits:
The Leavitt situation is interesting because of how the QB room is playing out at MSU right now. If the Spartans coaching staff says yes to Leavitt, they are taking themselves out of the Dante Moore sweepstakes. While it's unlikely that Moore ends up at MSU, the door is still cracked open.
That being said, QB isn’t as high of a priority as you might think because MSU believes they have three serviceable options on the roster already. Hauser and Kim will push Thorne (and probably not overtake him for the starting nod). Whoever is named the backup will stay and the other might transfer out. This is where the tough decisions come in for the MSU coaching staff – do you take a QB bird in the hand (Leavitt) or hope for the one in the bush (Moore)? Do the three recruits above all come together?
A non-publicized meeting with Dante Moore is definitely not out of the realm of possibility. It’s not like he has to hop on a plane – it’s just a quick drive over to meet with the coaches. I have heard from multiple people that the NIL money that Moore needs will be there at MSU, if he wants it to be.
A few other football items of note:
- Jaelon Barbarin being recruited as a running back (West Hills, California).
- QB Sam Leavitt (West Linn, Oregon). Currently committed to Washington State.
- Sean Brown likely being recruited as a defensive back. Currently committed to Arizona (Simi Valley, California).
The Leavitt situation is interesting because of how the QB room is playing out at MSU right now. If the Spartans coaching staff says yes to Leavitt, they are taking themselves out of the Dante Moore sweepstakes. While it's unlikely that Moore ends up at MSU, the door is still cracked open.
That being said, QB isn’t as high of a priority as you might think because MSU believes they have three serviceable options on the roster already. Hauser and Kim will push Thorne (and probably not overtake him for the starting nod). Whoever is named the backup will stay and the other might transfer out. This is where the tough decisions come in for the MSU coaching staff – do you take a QB bird in the hand (Leavitt) or hope for the one in the bush (Moore)? Do the three recruits above all come together?
A non-publicized meeting with Dante Moore is definitely not out of the realm of possibility. It’s not like he has to hop on a plane – it’s just a quick drive over to meet with the coaches. I have heard from multiple people that the NIL money that Moore needs will be there at MSU, if he wants it to be.
A few other football items of note:
- Transfer portal visitor defensive lineman Tunmise Adeleye from Texas A&M was very hard to read. He could have loved it, could have hated it – hard to tell from his reactions while he was in town.
- Tight end Jaylan Franklin from Wisconsin is a Michigan native (Brownstown) and, as of last week, did not yet have a scholarship offer from Michigan State. Franklin told Spartans Illustrated’s Ryan O’Bleness that Michigan State has been his "dream school" since he was a kid. He has also taken more visits to Michigan State than any other school outside of Wisconsin. He is being recruited as a tight end first, but he said he might also get a chance to train at defensive end and work on pass rushing.
- Running back Elijah Collins is leaning towards coming back for a final year (he has one year left due to COVID). LB/DL Jacoby Windmon and LB Aaron Brule are both vacillating on whether or not to return for their COVID years. DL Khris Bogle is expected to return to MSU.
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